Plasmonic Nanoparticle-based Hybrid Photosensitizers with Broadened Excitation Profile for Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer Cells

Photodynamic therapy combining nanotechnology has shown great potential with improved therapeutic efficacy and fewer side effects. Ideal photosensitizers for cancer treatment should both have good singlet oxygen production capability and be excitable by light illuminations with deep tissue penetration. Here we report a type of hybrid photosensitizers consisting of plasmonic silver nanoparticles and photosensitizing molecules, where strong resonance coupling between the two leads to a broadened excitation profile and exceptionally high singlet oxygen production under both visible light and infrared light excitations. Our results indicate that the hybrid photosensitizers display low cytotoxicity without light illumination yet highly enhanced photodynamic inhibition efficacy against Hela cells under a broad spectrum of light illuminations including the near-infrared light, which has great implication in photodynamic therapy of deep-tissue cancers.